Monday, July 16, 2007

Steve Norris Should Stand Against Boris But the Others Should Depart the Scene

Over the weekend I have lost count of the number of people who asked me whether I thought Boris would stand. My reply each time was that I hadn't got a clue. Well now we know. Between now and noon, the other candidates have to decide whether there is any point in putting themselves forward. My advice to them - with one exception - would be that they shouldn't bother.

Over the last few months I have interviewed most of the other potential candidates on 18 Doughty Street. I've been impressed by their commitment and enthusiasm, but none of them stand a chance against Boris, with one exception. The exception is Steve Norris.

The reason I hope Steve still decides to stand is that Boris needs to be tested and Steve is just the man to provide the test. In addition, Steve could actually beat Boris to the nomination or be there to pick up the pieces if for whatever reasons Boris's candidacy self combusts.

Nozzer v Bozzer. It would be a fascinating contest and bring the Conservative Party in London to life.

UPDATE: Boris to launch his campaign at 2pm.

UPDATE: Tory Radio is conducting a phone in - where people can leave a message on 0845 257 0 427 leaving a message, "I'm backing Boris because....." Go on, you know you want to...

The most interesting thing about Boris's candidacy is that the most obvious line of attack against him - that he is gaffe-prone - is one that is more or less closed to Ken Livingstone, who has said many far worse things than Boris has ever said.

I agree that a Bozza Nozza contest would be a good thing for the party. The publicity would eat into the Labour polling lead.I would expect Boris to win and I think he'll stand a real chance against Livingstone. He'll definitely have the Evening Standard onside

Norris has already rubbished Boris implying he does not take his candidacy seriously. If Norris does stay in he should radically change his tone or he will just damage the process.

I actually think the reverse to what Iain does. Norris has had his day and seriously annoyed many of us last time with his carrying on with Jarvis. But the others have worked assiduously for months - some such as Lightfoot and Borwick having developed good and thoughtful policies - they can conduct a civilised debate and then join, and strengthen Team Boris after September.

I'd like to see Boris then appoint a Chief of Staff (for when he is Major) and, for my money, Warwick Lightfoot would be the leading contender, specialising in leading for the Mayor on the Police Authority, on which he has really good ideas.

Please, not another Ken v Steve Norris election! How many times does London need to tell Steve Norris that we don't want him. Boris would at least give Ken a run for his money, and may well win. I'm not a Tory, but if I was I would plump for Boris. He's your best hope.

Boris is very obviously a great guy but let us not forget that London is, effectively, in a state of war (not the Blitz, I know, but war nevertheless). We must expect to be attacked again and again over the coming years. Hundreds, possibly, thousands will be killed and many more seriously injured. This will not be a time for witticisms. London's police and emergency services will need world class leadership. We certainly deserve better than Ken, but I for one am not convinced that Boris is the right man for what is going to be a very tough job. Sorry.

When did Conservatives become some a lot of Brownite sullen bores. You confuse earnest bluster and pomposity with seriousness .Boris will be superb, Norris I like too but I can’t see him in this role he is too right wing for London .Rose West would be an improvement on Livingstone so I see no reason to be overly critical of either of these two fine people. Has Boris now definitely thrown his hat in then ? It was still in doubt this morning in the Torygraph. Is it a fact now?

So, we justify this as him being no worse than Ken? We are all in a race to the bottom, happy to let this job, with the largest direct elected mandate in the land, go to this blundering clown?

Why can't we recognise that this is one of the highest offices in the land? It has arguably more power than a Cabinet minister, and is an independent base of power outside of Parliament. It is an opportunity to represent one of the world's great cities, a job elsewhere filled by statesmen, but here filled or aspired to by crooks, fools and philanderers.

THE EMPEROR IS IN THE NUDE! Wake up, for Christ's sake! This is a disaster.

This campaign has to be kept simple, positive and needs to be completely free from bitching, this isn't like America where 9 candidates from the same side can kick lumps out of each other for a year before presenting a united front. And one of them should employ Victoria Borwick if she drops out. Read her candidacy website. It'll give you tingles.

I would sooner vote for Ken Livingstone then see Norris as Mayor, the man is a complete waste of space and should just go away. Surely he's too busy working with Jarvis to be of any use to London. He's a typical old style Tory. Norris is a bigger clown then Boris!!

I always used to have a criterion for the quality of news broadcasters - Who would you really believe if they had to tell the nation that Russia was about to bomb us? Trevor McDonald used to figure quite high, Jon Snow, Peter Sissons, certainly John Simpson etc.

Try applying this to Boris and any pronouncements of serious import.

"Well, erm, er, erm, its like this, erm, now, don't take this the wrong way and start panicking or going looting in Peckham or anything but. erm....

We should all support Boris he can and should win.It would then be the perfect platform to take over the party from Cameron. I would trust Boris more than Cameron or Brown. He speaks his mind. He can be a loose canon, but London would be just the platform where he could prove himself, and getting rid of that horrible left wing Livingstone would be just fantastic. If Boris can win and run London what a happy city it would be.

Norris was the man who said in a knee-jerk reaction to the proposed Congestion Charge 'It will never work'. He said this without any reasoned analysis of any kind and said it just to 'oppose' Red Ken, and to score a few cheap points.

As it turned out the (first) Congestion Charge DID work (the later extension etc and increase in tarrif is a disaster), and although I think Genghis was a bit of a pinko, I am willing to take my hat of to the odious Leninspart for having the balls to try the Charge in the first place. Something had to be done. Norris hadn't a clue what to suggest, and just carped and criticised from the sidelines.

So Norris is a gravy-training career politician who should give up now, he has nothing whatsoever to offer London, and as far as I can see has no political principles or beliefs, other than BISTO. He should be told to stand down (and shut up).

Boris (who I have to admit not having much respect for) will at least bring a breath of fresh air to the stale political landscape, and I think he will probably win, if only because people want a change from the deeply unattractive Lizard-Lover.

pinko khanwe have gone from mild car congestion to chronic bus congestion and whereas the buses used to make a profit before the newt molestor got his hand on them they now lose hundreds of millions.Typical socialism, if it works break it fiddle about and then rebuild a worse version.Boris will rout you.

Boris is likely to do well in the polls, which will feed the media news beast well. BUT on election day I suspect that even a large number of Tories will do a reality check and vote for Ken. Nevertheless, it will do Boris no harm to run, so let's all enjoy the show.

The BBC keeps inviting listeners to look on Boris as being "too posh". Presumably those of us who don't agree can now denounce Ken as being too chavvy, too much of an oik, too bad-mannered, too embarrassing and too much of a spendthrift.

Don’t be such a miserable old git Weasel. Boris is quite as capable as anyone of taking serious things seriously. When he discusses the cheap conjuring trick by which he country has been ceded to Brussels naturally he laughs . When he discusses the literary merits of Salman Rushdie , of course he chortles . When pointing out the illiberal multiplication of petty laws or the target for targets I `m surprised any of us can keep a straight face.This is because he has a sense of proportion which is what the distinctively English sense of humour is . It is precisely because he takes serious events seriously that he can only laugh at the preposterous wind-baggery of Brown and his dead eyed bores who pretend their every waking thought is of how they can divest themselves of expensive handbags and invent yet more restrictions .He is a deeply serious man incapable of the glib lies Brown serves up dressed in fake earnest ness. Take back your unwarranted anti Boris remark or feel my wrath fall upon you Weasel. You have been warned !!!

J Norfolk- He was saying some uncompromising things to Iain when he was interviewed which is why , no doubt , Iain likes him .He came over very well.

G Pinko Khan - The congestion charge has not had any effect on congestion which is much as it was . It is now to be extended so widely that any pretence that congestion as its object will have to be dropped and be replaced with some enviromental nonsense . Yes it has been a success in raising revenue and a success in that stoic Londoners ,having out up with the Blitz ,can put up with Ken`s rubbish.

It has been a failure in any meaningful sense in that it costs a lot and makes life worse.( Oyster cards have been a success though )

'Bonking' Boris versus 'Shagger' Norris - is this really the best that the once-great Conservative party can do?

By the sides of City Hall I sat down and wept.

Neither of these two is a plausible candidate. Boris is loved, yes - but as an entertainer, a clown, a buffoon rather than a serious politician or city adminstrator. He may keep the votes of Henley in thrall but not the harder-nosed denizens of Brixton or Belgravia, come to that. Norris is a tainted businessman (Jarvis, anyone?) with ideas of his own self-importance and capabilities well above reality. Either would be a disaster as Mayor of London.

This is 'Dave's' doing. under 'Dave' the Tories are rapidly becoming vapid and insubstantial, deflected by passing fads and distracted by non-issues (grammar schools? museum charges?).

We want our Tory party back. A party led by someone who believes in real Tory principles, not the milk-and-water kind that they think will keep the electorate happy. Until then the difference betwen the parties is just a question of branding, not differentiated ideologies.

Yes, but Newmania, Boris is like Santa Claus - we all pretend to believe in him, because it brings seasonal cheer to the drudgery of our daily lives.

There is no doubt he is an intellectual, but I lack the imagination to see him as a serious player in charge of the Metropolis, which far from having streets paved with gold, is, in Boris' case, paved with banana skins.

By all means, let him stand, and debate the issues. Let's see him deal with conflict. Let's see him mollify the one hundred and one self-serving little London sub-cultures, who scream "discrimination" and "rights" everytime some other self-serving little London sub-culture gets higher on the pyramid of hegemony.

The only thing he has in his favour politically is his huge popularity. Against him there is the BBC and all the "preposterous windbaggery" which is present in such quantities that he wouldn't have a hope in a straight fight.

Santa Claus is great to tell your children about, but if a bloke turns up in a red suit and black thigh boots asking about your kids, you might experience a quick reality check.

Its amazing, the BBC London political commentator is already labeling Boris as "the right wing candidate with no experience of running a multi-billion pound budget"

Bendy buses Ken's baby - compared to double-deckers they are1.not attractive to tourists2.take up much more road space 3.Kill cyclists4.allow HUGE numbers of ne'redowells to travel free (its the fact that you can get on and off via the 3 backdoors without going past a driver).

I suspect that if Boris runs against Ken,his nomination will be either a masterstroke or an epic fiasco.I just cannot see any middle course.Any other Tory candidate will fight a responsible and principled campaign and will lose narrowly.Hindsight will be even more wonderful than usual after this election.

the one hundred and one self-serving little London sub-cultures, who scream "discrimination" and "rights" everytime some other self-serving little London sub-culture gets higher on the pyramid of hegemony.

I think you probably mean 'minority groups' but are being cautious (or a little shy?). It's a while since the punks have complained that the mods were getting preferential treatments (cheaper haircuts? discount moped insurance? who knows) or the goths kicked up a stink because emos have appropriated their brand values of misery and purple.

Bendy buses Ken's baby - compared to double-deckers they are1.not attractive to tourists2.take up much more road space3.Kill cyclists4.allow HUGE numbers of ne'redowells to travel free (its the fact that you can get on and off via the 3 backdoors without going past a driver).

Newmania, I will publicly eat my nipples if Boris is A. elected and B survives a year. A side order of humble pie will be a doddle.

anon: "Not disagreeing, mind". Clever, but not that clever: The Muslims think they have a right hate the gays and rig the votes in elections. The Jews complain about everybody else, the Whites think that blacks get better council houses and think they have a right to them, the Gay police hate the Christian police, everybody hates Christians and think that all Christians are homophobic, people in Chelsea believe they have a right to choke the rest of London by driving a Sherman Tank with carpets, Women think they have a right to everything men have except when it comes to anonymity in spurious rape cases, etc, etc, etc.

The liberal humanist left are totally confused these days because they don't know who the "good" guys are anymore.

So called "minority groups" are not about equality these days, they are about being on top. Worse still, they are about making scapegoats of the the kind of people they are trying not to be.

If you are a Muslim in this country you may think you are entitled to equal rights. That does not include the right to take away choices from women and other family members, or to flog gays, or to overthrow our democracy.

Boris was a King's Scholar at Eaton. That means that he is bright. So he covers his intellect in this inverted snobbery world of ours by acting the buffoon. Buffoons get on TV not intellects. TV savey politicians get elected. QED.

Tone made me do it - he's a bad influence said... Boris was a King's Scholar at Eaton. That means that he is bright. So he covers his intellect in this inverted snobbery world of ours by acting the buffoon. Buffoons get on TV not intellects. TV savey politicians get elected. QED.

Steve Norris is head and shoulders above that buffoon Boris. Being Editor of the Spectator is hardly the same as running London's transport system. Running in true blue Tory Henley is a different ball game to running in London. Boris is out of his league.

Boris the Buffoon didn't even vote for Crossrail in the House of Commons, couldn't even be bothered to be there. Does he even know anything about it? Of course, not. Great for a laugh but nothing else.

Chief engineer Derek Turner told Livingstone not to put the number-plate camera system in.Livingstone did and it came close to collapse because the cameras can't read the plates accurately enough.

The upshot was that Crapita had to employ lots more people in their tin shed in Coventry.The admin cost of the charge went from £90m to £120m (I have the accounts to hand).That meant the admin cost was £4.80 per car per day.

Guess why it went up to £8? And it didn't break even until last November.

Traffic in central London has been falling since the mid-1990s and yet traffic speeds are slower than ever despite the charge.

This is because of 'Urban Safety Management': Remove the road space and re-time the lights to slow the traffic. Utterly mad.

The combination of stop-start traffic and diesel engines has been an enviro disaster - pollution levels have soared since 2001 according to the Chartered Soc of Physiotherapists.

What's more the London bus subsidy has soared from -£100k in 1998 to £750m today.Even better, the Supplemental Tolls Bill will allow Lenin to toll main roads right to the edge of greater London.

The new combined cameras and charge card readers have already been errected near Brent Cross, Ikea Wembley and in Wandsworth (they're big grey poles with three cameras hung out over the road.

Fancy another mega tax chaps, because Gordo is going to pull the bus subsidy?

Oh, and I bet that Lennin has laready signed a contract for the new cameras so any new Mayor can't stop the scheme - that's what he did in 2003 with the Crapita C-Charge contrat.

Lenin is a nasty piece of work and is often 'indisposed' in the afternoon....

There was a very low turnout in the last Mayoral election, partly because of a, for gone conclusion attitude, but also just general apathy that there was no one for the neutrals/floating voter to get behind. If the Tories put in Norris again,or an unkown, it just looks like they aren't trying and couldn't care less about it. That isn't going to inspire voters to turn out for them. Putting Boris up, shows that they are making an effort. Lots of people are sick of Red-Ken these days and the novelty has worn off, they want an alternative.

Boris has to keep his nose clean and hope the BBC attempted hatchet jobs, don't have too much effect.Ken will be hsitory!

OAP, your hearing aid battery has run out. Steve has actually run something more substantial, namely London's transport and roads, than the (rather like Boris) shambolic and not very spectacular Spectator office.

Iain, I'm amazed you are advocating rhat Norris should slug bit out with Norris. He's a two time loser, too old and yesterday's man.Your normally sure touch seems to have deserted you on this occasion.

Sometimes I wonder if Iain writes these things just to provoke fierce debate, and not necessarily because he believes them. I agree regarding the desirability of having a strong candidate to test Boris Johnson, but quite why that has to be Norris, I have no idea.